Saturday, July 23, 2016

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 214

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS


 + True compassion does not come from wanting to help those less fortunate than ourselves but from realizing our kinship with all beings.

+ Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.
-- Thomas Merton

+ ... it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts..., the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed. . . . I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.
 -- Thomas Merton in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
This was the OneSpirit Daily Inspiration on December 25, 2015

+ In that quote from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Merton put into words as best as he could (and that’s pretty good) his insights from a very famous mystical encounter on the streets of Louisville which changed his life.  Here’s more about this >

These great spiritual teachers, Pema Chödrön, a Buddhist & Thomas Merton, a Christian, teach us that it is always important to see our spirituality in the context of “our kinship with all beings.”  “If only (we) could see (ourselves) as (we) really are.”  We are not meant to be separate from each other.  We are not meant to build walls keeping segments of humanity apart and estranged from other segments of humanity.  We are in this together. 

The planet needs us to come together since we now have so much power to influence the planet’s future.  We can make it better.  We can make it worse.  We can even create catastrophic conditions.  Unfortunately, the latter seems to be happening with increasing regularity.  Let’s stop this dangerous trend. 

I believe we will stop this dangerous trend because there is an abundance of Love & Compassion among us and it is growing.  More and more of us are realizing that we have the power to expand Love & Compassion.  We are making all things new.  We are creating heaven on earth because we really are heavenly. We really can “see each other that way all the time” and we really are ready, willing and eager to “make it so.”

Some people think I am seeing things through rose-colored glasses.  What do you think?


+ Spirituality & Practice emphasizes the practices of Love & Compassion:

+ I would love it if you offered a guest post on this practice or any practice.  And, I have work to do on my Heavenlinesspage.  Maybe you can help.  Send an email with the subject “Heavenliness” or “Guest Post” to John@abundancetrek.com.

+ You can always find a link to any of the Spiritual Explorations posts by going to http://abundancetrek.com/sepostsaccess.html

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